Relatives of ten miners who had been stranded in a flooded coal mine in northern Mexico for more than 48 hours held out hope that they were still alive on Friday.
After the latest disaster struck Mexico’s main coal-producing region in Coahuila state, family members waited anxiously for news for a second night.
“I feel desperate because I don’t know what’s happening or when I’ll see him again,” said Jesus Mireles Romo, whose father is among the missing.
In spite of his tears, he told AFP: “But I have faith that it will turn out well and that they will all get out.”
Prior to authorities taking control, the 24-year-old and his two brothers rushed to the mine in Agujita in the Sabinas municipality on Wednesday and have not left since.
Her children’s refusal to give up hope of ever seeing their father again is “painful,” says Claudia Romo Romo, 45, the mother of Claudia Romo Romo.
Five miners escaped the cave-initial in’s aftermath on Wednesday, but no one else has been found since then.
Approximately 1,130 kilometers (700 miles) north of Mexico City, more than 300 soldiers and other personnel have joined the rescue effort.
Pumping water out of the mine was a full-time job for soldiers and emergency workers who worked through the night under floodlights.
The three mine shafts had a total depth of 60 meters (200 feet) and the floodwater was 30 meters (100 feet) deep, according to the authorities.
Civil defense national coordinator Laura Velazquez emphasized the importance of lowering the water level so that search and rescue personnel can safely enter the area.
She said, “We’re working around the clock to save the ten trapped miners.”
While hopes of finding survivors faded by the hour, family members wept and held each other.
Angelica Montelongo said, “What we want is for them to retrieve the bodies,” with a sad and tired look on her face, before summoning new hope that her brother Jaime would be saved.
“But, hey, God willing, you never know? Having faith in their survival is essential “she remarked on the subject.
Lax safety rules have led to a dangerous job for miners and their families, according to their testimonies.
As Luis Armando Ontiveros put it, “When everything’s perfect, you don’t think about the danger, but when things happen, you begin to consider quitting.”
However, the 48-year-old, whose father taught him to dig coal as a child, does not appear to be a feasible candidate for a new employment.
That’s not all; the man’s three children require an annual salary of $500, which is approximately double the minimum wage, to ensure they don’t have to follow in his footsteps.
Guillermo Iglesias, an engineering specialist, says that poorly constructed mines like the one that collapsed lack concrete reinforcements that would shield miners from a cave-in.
Asked by a local radio station, he explained that miners “dig a shaft two meters in diameter and keep digging until they hit a little layer of coal.”
In most cases, a big plastic tube through which workers penetrate the earth serves as the only support for the rest of the landscape.
When the miners hit an adjacent region full of water while doing excavation work, the shaft collapsed and caused flooding, according to the state government of Coahuila.
The mining industry in Coahuila has been plagued by several fatalities over the years.
Seven miners perished last year as a result of becoming stranded in the area.
At the Pasta de Conchos mine in 2006, an explosion killed 65 people.
The families of the victims have repeatedly pleaded with Mexican officials to recover the other two bodies that were found in the aftermath of the tragedy.